Letter for Fleet redistricting 11-19-18

November 19, 2018
To: Arlington School Board
Superintendent of Schools

Re: Fleet Elementary Redistricting

I have had the honor of serving the Columbia Heights Civic Association on the South Arlington Working Group, the planning group for the new Fleet Elementary School as well as the Career Center Working Group. Today I am writing to you in support of the parents in my civic association, and other neighborhoods on the south side of Columbia Pike, who wish to remain with the Patrick Henry community that is moving to Fleet.

Throughout this process, we were given the understanding that Patrick Henry
the community would stay together and move together to the new school at Fleet. This is not imaginary. These assurances were given during the planning of Fleet and were written by APS in subsequent community hangouts. More importantly, the children in our neighborhood were given this understanding by their current teachers and administrators at Patrick Henry. Those children have been emotionally devastated by the changing the story from APS.

The parents in my neighborhood have also demonstrated with painstaking care the differences in walkability between Fleet and the only other alternatives—Drew and Hoffman-Boston. It is clear to them that Fleet, while farther away than Patrick Henry, is still walkable. Drew is not.

The current plan that is being considered deviates significantly from the goals
originally stated by APS. First, it eliminates diversity at Fleet by moving Barcroft kids in and leaving our kids out. The irony is that the entire Patrick Henry community has argued to maintain diversity. Second, moving our students to Drew will NOT relieve the percentage of free and reduced lunch kids at that school.

The process that APS has used to make these decisions has been capricious and
unrealistic. The basic problem is that redefining Drew as a neighborhood school, while admirable and beneficial for the children in the surrounding Nauck neighborhood, leave Drew with a lot of empty seats.

Fortunately, there is a logical solution to this issue, which is to keep Drew as a
neighborhood school with a strong STEAM program, but allow other kids in Arlington to opt in. Drew could become a feeder school into the new tech program at the Career Center, which I continue to believe will be developed as an outstanding high school program.

I urge you not to rush into boundary decisions that will have long-term negative impacts on our neighborhoods.

Sincerely,

Sarah McKinley
President of CHCA

Monday, October 29, 2018

Patrick Henry Elementary
School Highland & Fillmore Streets
Cafeteria
7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Barbara J. Kanninen (D)
and Audrey Clement (I)

Event sponsored by the Columbia Heights Civic Association.

We welcome all of our neighbors up and down the Pike.

This is our opportunity to ask questions that affect our families, including elementary school boundary issues.

ColumbiaHeightsVA.org
Don’t forget: Absentee in-person voting is available through Nov. 3 at 2100 Clarendon Blvd. More on Vote.Arlington.us

2018 Columbia Pike Candidate Debates

Monday, October 15, 2018
County Board Candidate Debate
7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
John Vihstadt (I) and
Matt de Ferranti (D)
Walter Reed Community Center
16th & Walter Reed Drive

2018 Oct. 15th County Board Debate Flyer

ColumbiaHeightsVA.org

Don’t forget: Absentee in-person voting begins September 21 through November 3 at 2100 Clarendon Blvd. More on: Vote.Arlington.us

Membership Meeting
Columbia Heights Civic Association
Monday, September 10, 2018
Walter Reed Community Center
7:00 – 9:00 p.m.

Agenda:

President’s Announcements (10 minutes)

We have some late-breaking announcements to get out of the way before we begin the meeting. I’m going to run through these issues very briefly now, and if we want to discuss them further we will do so at the end of the meeting, treating them as “new business.”
1) The County is organizing a series of workshops to build leadership skills for citizens, on October 4, 11, 18 and 25, called “Energize Arlington.” I have a flyer to share. The web site is projects.arlingtonva.us/energize-arlington/ I would encourage any member of our civic association to attend.
2) The Use Permit for the Feya Preschool located at 1611 South Walter Reed Drive will be considered at the October 20 County Board meeting. (U-3502-17-1). Please speak up if you have any comments about this.
3) The one-year Use Permit review for the Azteca Grill (3005 Columbia Pike) will also be heard at the October 20 County Board meeting (U-3496-17-2). Please let us know if you have comments.
4) The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) consists of community volunteers who are trained to save lives and reduce injuries when activated in the event of a major disaster or until professional responders arrive. Training began Sept. 4 but the county will be holding more training sessions. If you’re interested, please send an e-mail to: CERTArlingtonVA@gmail.com
5) The National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board will be hosting a series of Open Houses to discuss its long-range transportation plan, Visualize 2045. The next open house is Monday, September 17 from 4:00 – 7:00 p.m. at the VDOT Northern Virginia District Office, 4975 Alliance Drive, Fairfax VA 22030. Or visit visualize2045.org or e-mail azenner@mwcog.org with questions.
6) Crosswalk on Columbia Pike at Rolfe Street. In August members of Columbia Heights, Penrose and Arlington View civic associations met with County Board Member Christian Dorsey to discuss the possibility of adding a crosswalk across Columbia Pike at S. Rolfe Street, and restoring the bus stop at that location. The County has decided not to do either. We need to have a larger discussion of this issue.
7) The US Department of the Army is planning the Arlington Cemetery Expansion and realignment of Columbia Pike. It held an open meeting and came to a meeting of the Pike Presidents Group to discuss these plans. The largest issue in contention is the proposed 10-foot-wide pike/pedestrian trail along the north side of the realigned Pike. Members of the PPG questioned whether it would be adequate to meet future needs. Comments from the Community are due September 22. You may also submit comments on the proposal either personally or on behalf of your own Civic Associations via email to SouthernExpansion@usace.army.mil. The web site for the project is here:
http://www.nao.usace.army.mil/Missions/Military-Construction/ANCSouthernExpansion/

Extensive comments have already been filed by the “Sustainable Mobility for Arlington County” group. https://mailchi.mp/11272b1f7537/see-you-tomorrow-for-bike4thepike-150739 with graphics at: https://susmo.org/biking/east-pike-realignment/
8) Election Debate – October 15. Takis Karantonis has organized a debate night for Columbia Heights Civic Association and the entire Pike Corridor, to be held Monday, October 15, at the Walter Reed Community Center. The candidates for County Board as well as candidates for the school board will debate that night. Please tell your neighbors!
9) We sent out notification that Arlington County School Board has launched its process to redistrict elementary schools across Arlington. We are well aware of concerns of neighbors about the ability of our children to attend the new Alice Fleet Elementary School in the fall of 2019, as it replaces Patrick Henry. The final decision on redistricting is expected to be made this coming December. Columbia Heights has reached out to Reid Goldstein (recently named Chair of the School Board) to come to one of our meetings to discuss this. He informed us that APS Board Member Tannia Talento is now our representative. We reached out to her with an invitation but haven’t heard back. We will continue to pursue this.
10) We are also planning our annual meeting, which will probably take place in late October.

We have so much to get to in our busy agenda this evening, with the main issue being the Career Center Working Group Final Report. But we have two guests this evening and I’d like them to have the chance to speak first. Our first guest has to leave early to attend another meeting, so I’d l to allow him to go first and I’d like to allocate just 15 minutes each to these discussions, and I’m going to keep careful track of the time.

Community Development Citizens Advisory Committee (CDCAC), 15 minutes

Tim Denning, Chairman of the Community Development Citizens Advisory Committee (CDCAC) will join us to discuss his group, which reviews grant requests, evaluates programs and makes recommendations to the County Board for the use of federal Community Development Block Grant and Community Services Block Grant (CDBG) funds.

He wants to encourage members of our civic association on the CDCAC. A link to the website is here:https://commissions.arlingtonva.us/community-development-citizens-advisory-committee/

Disabled Veterans’ Personal Property Tax Relief, 15 minutes

John O’Hara has contacted civic associations and the civ fed to consider a proposal that would provide personal property tax relief to disabled veterans. He prepared a white paper that discusses the ramifications. That report is attached to this e-mail. It is helpful for us to consider this proposal and decide whether our civic association would be in favor of it, which would inform our vote in any resolution at the Civic Federation.

Career Center Working Group Final Report, 30 minutes

As you are aware, the Career Center Working Group has been finalizing recommendations to Arlington County for the immediate and long-range plans for the Career Center campus. That report is being sent to the County on Friday, August 31. Until that happens the individual members of the CCWG have been precluded from sharing the report with anyone outside of the working group. The final report will be available on the County’s web page at https://www.apsva.us/career-center/ccwg-follow-journey/

Another process to address specific architectural designs for the site will probably begin this fall.

New Business:

Charrette Meeting Postponed!

Columbia Heights Civic Association Charrette
Creating a Connected Neighborhood for the Next Generation:   
“Walter Reed to Gunston”

Monday, August 13, 2018
Party Room on the Roof – 8^th floor
Dorchester Towers
2001 Columbia Pike
6:30 p.m. – 9 p.m.

Charrette Meeting Postponed!

Due to summer vacations, scheduling conflicts with the Career Center Working Group and other considerations, Columbia Heights Civic Association will postpone its next Charrette meeting and Membership Civic Association Meeting until September.  Please stay tuned for updated meeting information.

Columbia Heights Civic Association

Membership Meeting
Monday, July 9, 2018
7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Walter Reed Community Center

So far our civic association has had a pretty busy summer. This meeting will provide an update our activities and provide members with the opportunity to bring new issues to discuss.

Old Business:

· Career Center Working Group – continued the discussion on parking and traffic

· Proposed safety changes to Columbia Pike – CHCA and other civic associations met with County Commissioner Christian Dorsey to discuss the lack of a bus stop at S. Rolfe Street and newly proposed crosswalks, following the fatal automobile accident on the I-395 ramp last month

· Support for funding for the Neighborhood Conservation Advisory Committee (NCAC) – CHCA is meeting with County Board Chair Katie Cristol Monday morning

· Charrette Meeting of condo representatives – June 19

New Business:

· New Charrette Meeting for the East Side – Tentatively set for July 17th

· Strategies for a sidewalk on our narrow streets

Please join us!

Sarah McKinley
President
Columbia Heights Civic Association

Columbia Heights Civic Association
Charrette
 
Creating a Connected Neighborhood for the Next Generation:   Walter Reed to Gunston

Special Session for Condos

Tuesday, June 19, 2018
The Commons of Arlington Board Room
Walter Reed and 13^th Road South
1315 S. Walter Reed – (You will need to be let in the office which is in the basement)
7:00 p.m. – 9 p.m.
 

Please join us on June 19 for a special meeting for representatives of condo associations within the Columbia Heights neighborhood to update our neighborhood conservation plan.  The original plan was created over a decade ago and needs to reflect our current thoughts about infrastructure needs for our neighborhood.

Why update this plan?  The conservation plan becomes the County’s blueprint for infrastructure planning, from sidewalks and street lights to upgrades to our park facilities to articulating whether we need new streets to connect areas of the neighborhood. 

Condo associations have a vested interest in taking part in this charrette process.  First, improving infrastructure improves property value in general.  And some projects are particularly useful to specific associations that lie next to county facilities, like neighborhood parks.  Finally, creating amenities in the communities benefits those who live here, making your condo more attractive to new buyers.

Please join us in this important discussion.  Please RSVP  if your association is able to send representatives to the meeting. Also feel free to forward this invitation to the correct representatives on your board. 

RSVP Here:

The first Charrette meeting for reviewing and updating the Columbia Heights Civic Association (CHCA) Neighborhood Conservation Plan was held on Monday, May 14, 2018, at the Walter Reed Community Center on S. 16^th Street and Walter Reed Drive.

For the Full Report Click Here.

Columbia Heights Civic Association wishes to thank over 30 neighborhood residents who attended the first meeting of our Charrette on May 14, 2018. We were thrilled by the active participation of the group in the process and will keep you informed!

Charrettes are iterative processes. This meeting, and the information and suggestions that we received, will be included in an ongoing draft of our neighborhood plan, and will also be included in future Charrette meetings. Folks in the neighborhood can attend one meeting, or as many meetings as they like. In addition, we will post the draft document on our web site with the ability of people to post comments on the report.

Our next meeting will probably be held on the East side of our neighborhood, with special outreach to some of the high rises in that area. We will keep you updated on our future plans and progress!

Best wishes,

Columbia Heights Civic Association Board